Historian

Explore 186 quotes by Historians

A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty.

Philippe Ariès

More information about this quote

Topic

Missing someone Losing a loved one Grief Mourning

Author

Philippe Ariès

Source

Western Attitudes Toward Death: From the Middle Ages to the Present

Language

English

Time

1976 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Aries, Philippe. Western Attitudes Toward Death: From the Middle Ages to the Present. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974.

With the dead there is no rivalry. In the dead there is no change. Plato is never sullen. Cervantes is never petulant. Demosthenes never comes unseasonably. Dante never stays too long. No difference of political opinion can alienate Cicero. No heresy can excite the horror of Bossuet.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

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Topic

Western intellectual tradition

Author

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Source

Lord Bacon Edinburgh Review

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1837 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Macaulay, Thomas Babington. "Lord Bacon." Edinburgh Review, July 1837.

Men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.

C. Northcote Parkinson

The Economist

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Topic

Local politics

Author

C. Northcote Parkinson

Source

Pension Point The Economist

Medium

Essay Newspaper

Genre

Economic literature

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parkinson, C. Northcote. Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress. John Murray, 1958, ch. 10. Originally published as "Pension Point" in The Economist, c. 1958.

Expenditure rises to meet income.

C. Northcote Parkinson

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Topic

Money

Author

C. Northcote Parkinson

Source

The Law and the Profits

Genre

Economic literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parkinson, C. Northcote. The Law and the Profits. Houghton Mifflin, 1960, ch. 1.

Know most of the rooms of thy native country before thou goest over the threshold thereof.

Thomas Fuller (churchman)

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Topic

One's native land Travel

Author

Thomas Fuller (churchman)

Source

Of Travelling The Holy State and the Profane State

Medium

Essay

Genre

Travel writing

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1642 1640s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fuller, Thomas. The Holy State and the Profane State. Cambridge: John Williams, 1642, bk. 3, ch. 4.

It is an empire…that dare not speak its name. It is an empire in denial.

Niall Ferguson

On the United States.

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Topic

American empire America and the world

Author

Niall Ferguson

Language

English

Time

2003 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ferguson, Niall. Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World. Allen Lane/Basic Books, 2003, conclusion.

Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.

Christian Louis Lange

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Topic

Downsides of technology Technology

Author

Christian Louis Lange

Medium

Nobel Prize Lecture Speech

Language

Norwegian

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lange, Christian. Nobel Lecture. Nobel Peace Prize cermony. 13 Dec. 1921, Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, Norway.

A war regarded as inevitable or even probable, and therefore much prepared for, has a very good chance of eventually being fought.

George F. Kennan

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Topic

Preparing for war War

Author

George F. Kennan

Source

The Cloud of Danger

Genre

Political literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1977 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kennan, George Frost. The Cloud of Danger: Current Realities of American Foreign Policy. Little, Brown and Company, 1977, ch. 13.

The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.

C. Northcote Parkinson

The Economist

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Topic

Abuse of power Self-importance

Author

C. Northcote Parkinson

Source

Pension Point The Economist

Medium

Essay Newspaper

Genre

Economic literature

Statement Type

Precepts and axioms

Language

English

Time

1958 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Parkinson, C. Northcote. Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress. John Murray, 1958, ch. 10. Originally published as "Pension Point" in The Economist, c. 1958.

Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life-blood of real civilization.

G.M. Trevelyan

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Topic

Curiosity Progress

Author

G.M. Trevelyan

Source

English Social History

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Trevelyan, George Macaulay. English Social History: A Survey of Six Centuries Chaucer to Queen Victoria. Longmans, Green and Company, 1942, introduction.

The Augustinian doctrine of the damnation of unbaptized infants and the Calvinistic doctrine of reprobation... Surpass in atrocity any tenets that have ever been admitted into any pagan creed.

William E.H. Lecky

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Topic

Calvinism Christian theology

Author

William E.H. Lecky

Source

History of European Morals

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1869 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lecky, William Edward Hartpole. History of European Morals: From Augustus to Charlemagn. Vol. 1, London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1869, ch. 1.

Every step and every movement of the multitude, even in what are termed enlightened ages, are made with equal blindness to the future; and nations stumble upon establishments, which are indeed the result of human action, but not the execution of any human design.

Adam Ferguson

An Essay on the History of Civil Society

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Topic

Randomness Forces of history

Author

Adam Ferguson

Source

An Essay on the History of Civil Society

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1767 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Ferguson, Adam. "Of the History of Policy and Arts." An Essay on the History of Civil Society. London: A. Millar & T. Caddel, 1767.

Current Citation

Ferguson, Adam. "Of the History of Policy and Arts." Ferguson: An Essay on the History of Civil Society, edited by Fania Oz-Salzberger. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do.

R.G. Collingwood

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Topic

Freedom Dream job Vocation Work

Author

R.G. Collingwood

Source

Speculum Mentis

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1924 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Collingwood, Robin George. Speculum Mentis; or The Map of Knowledge. Clarendon Press, 1924, prologue.

As in political revolutions, so in paradigm choice-there is no standard higher than the the assent of the relevant community. To discover how scientific revolutions are effected, we shall therefore have to examine not only the impact of nature and of logic, but also the techniques of persuasive argumentation effective within the quite special groups that constitute the community of scientists.

Thomas S. Kuhn

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

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More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific progress Science

Author

Thomas S. Kuhn

Source

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Genre

Historical literature Scientific literature

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press, 1962, ch. 9.

As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from the evil that they set out to destroy.

Christopher Dawson

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Topic

End justifies the means Justifications and rationales

Author

Christopher Dawson

Source

The Judgment of the Nations

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dawson, Christopher. The Judgment of the Nations. Sheed & Ward, 1942, pt. 1, ch. 1.

Men wiser and more learned than I have discerned in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following upon another as wave follows upon wave.

H.A.L. Fisher

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Topic

Nature of history History

Author

H.A.L. Fisher

Source

A History of Europe

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Fisher, Herbert Albert Laurens. A History of Europe. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1935, preface.

The significance of man is that he is that part of the universe that asks the question, What is the significance of Man? He alone can stand apart imaginatively and, regarding himself and the universe in their eternal aspects, pronounce a judgement. The significance of man is that he is insignificant and is aware of it.

Carl Becker

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Topic

Man and nature Man The human condition

Author

Carl Becker

Source

Progress and Power

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Becker, Carl. Progress and Power. A. A. Knopf, 1936.

America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else; when discovered it was not wanted; and most of the exploration for the next fifty years was done in the hope of getting through or around it. America was named after a man who discovered no part of the New World. History is like that, very chancy.

Samuel Eliot Morison

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Topic

America Nature of history

Author

Samuel Eliot Morison

Source

The Oxford History of the American People

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Oxford History of the American People. Oxford University Press, 1965, ch. 2.

It is for us... To inquire constantly and persistently, when theories of national power or states' rights are propounded: "What interests are behind them and to whose advantage will changes or the maintenance of old forms accrue?" By refusing to do this we become victims of history-clay in the hands of its makers.

Charles A. Beard

An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States

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Topic

Political power Questioning authority

Author

Charles A. Beard

Source

An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Beard, Charles A. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. The Macmillan Company, 1935, introduction.

Few have heard of Fra Luca Pacioli, the inventor of double-entry bookkeeping; but he has probably had much more influence on human life than has Dante or Michelangelo.

Herbert J. Muller

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Topic

Accounting Unsung heroes

Author

Herbert J. Muller

Source

Uses of the Past

Genre

Historical literature

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Muller, Herbert. Uses of the Past: Profiles of Former Societies. Oxford University Press, 1952, ch. 8.